Users can find information they are looking for through different search engines available over the Internet. Unfortunately, searching can be tedious and time consuming, and it requires users to initiate a search to pull data. Because of this, various databases, search engines, and websites provide a feature where users can request alerts when new information is generated. For example, alerts can occur when a database receives new entries, when a chosen query provides new results in the search engine, or when a website posts new content. In this way, information meeting an alert definition is pushed to the user.
In the case of websites, current alert setup options allow a user to define what type of alert content he or she would like to receive by selecting from a list of categories or settings that define conditions for the triggering of the alert or define content of the alert. While the current alert setup has advantages in certain situations, there are also limitations. The user is restricted to the particular site providing the alert and to what the content provider feels are appropriate categories. Alerts for search engines may cover wider search areas and produce alerts with results from around the web or other corpora of information. However, the user has limited control over the source of the content received and can be inundated with irrelevant information that masks the desired content.
Further, conventional alerts that are predefined by a user are static. Even if an alert definition is initially defined well by a user, over time the alert definition may become less effective and miss important new areas of interest not appreciated or known to the user at the time the alert was created.
What is needed is an alert service that presents relevant and useful information, without the content restrictions imposed by current alert setups.